Guideline B-15: Climate Risk Management

Guideline B-15: Climate Risk Management: requires canadian federally regulated financial institutions to manage and disclose climate risks across governance, strategy, risk management and metrics.

Jurisdiction
Status
active
Category
First deadline
First phase effective for fiscal periods ending on or after October 1, 2024
Who must comply
Applies to Canadian-headquartered Federally Regulated Financial Institutions (FRFIs), including banks, trust and loan companies, insurance firms, cooperative credit associations, and Internationally Active Insurance Groups (IAIGs). Foreign bank and insurance branches are excluded.
Penalties
OSFI may issue supervisory letters or orders and require remediation plans, with fines or operational restrictions for systemic non-compliance, alongside reputational damage and loss of investor confidence.

What it is

Guideline B-15 is a prudential guideline issued by Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) setting expectations for how federally regulated financial institutions manage and disclose climate-related risks.

It is structured around four pillars—Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, and Metrics & Targets—and requires institutions to integrate climate risk into enterprise risk management and to disclose greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related metrics.

Who must comply

The guideline applies to Canadian-headquartered Federally Regulated Financial Institutions, including banks, trust and loan companies, insurers, cooperative credit associations, and Internationally Active Insurance Groups. Foreign bank and insurance branches are not covered.

What you must disclose

Institutions must make disclosures across four pillars: Governance (board and management oversight), Strategy (climate risks and opportunities, including scenario analysis), Risk Management (identification and integration into ERM), and Metrics & Targets. This includes Scope 1 and 2 emissions from the first phase and Scope 3 emissions, intensity metrics, financed emissions, and targets in the full phase.

Timeline

Introduced in March 2023 by OSFI. The first phase takes effect for fiscal periods ending on or after October 1, 2024, covering Scope 1 and 2 emissions plus governance, strategy, and risk management disclosures.

Full compliance, including Scope 3 GHG emissions disclosure, is required from October 1, 2025.

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